If your following my picks the Giants -3 was winner ( hope you took it). Well that was supposed to be a measuring stick game for the Cardinals but it turned out to be a statement game for the G-Men! Not because they beat the Cardinals but because they beat the Cardinals without Plaxico and Jacobs. When you don't have your best WR or RB on the field and you still pull out a convincing victory on the road it really says something folks.

Let me first defer to my boy BigBlueMasochist who said Eli was going to come out and be a gun slinger and he definatly was. I found it hard to believe that he would attempt more than 30 passes even without BJ. I was saying all week BJ wouldn't play but I figured 25 passes would still be about it. Eli went 26-33 for 240yds, 3tds no INT's (well done BBM). I think the biggest stat in the whole Eli line is 0 int's. Eli's ability to manage the game last year is what took the Giants through the playoffs into the superbowl. When you get right down to it Warner turned the ball over and Eli didn't.

As I stated last week the Cardinals passing attack is awesome but a lack luster running game. The same held true this week. Note to the Cardinals runs the ball or go home. Three keys to a successful football team are O-line, D-line, and ability to run the ball. The Cardinals can not run the ball between the 20's and this allows for D's to pressure Warner and drop men into coverage. The Cardinals have losses to the Jets, Washington, Carolina, and now the Giants. As I said last week agianst good defenses a pass happy offense will not win you games (see Eagles).

Ok I'm giving out two game balls this week. One for an offensive player and one for a defensive player. Domenik Hixon gets my offensive game ball. As many of you know I love this kid's game. Everytime the Cards scored Hixon was there to give the Giants great field position on kickoffs. Note to Coughlin let him return kicks! As a Wr he is just as dangerous. Excellent hands, blazing speed, and great route running. I heard an interview with Antonio Pierece and he said Hixon is always at game speed, even in practice you have to love that....

On Defense it goes to Kenny Philips. Best game of the season for this guy. He was all over the place and made one of the best plays you will see in the back of the endzone knocking away a sure TD from Fitzgerald (I was playing agianst Fitz in fantasy so it was twice as nice for me!). The guy was jumping routes all day, flying around the field making hits, and coming up to the line blitz and taking out RB's. With the 31st pick the NY Giants select Kenny Philips! This will go down as one of the best picks by the NYGs if the kid can stay healthy. What a joy it is to see 31 and 21 running around the back field making plays. Two kids that should be a staple for the NYG's Defenisve backs for a long time. While I'm on number 31 Aaron Ross was just robbed so many times by bad calls. He played an excellent game defensively and the refs were just making terrible judgement calls. He had four flags thrown his way and it probably should only have been 1. Keep it up man you playing excellent.

I want to close out this review with my thoughts on the running game from this week. When looking at the stats I hear a lot about how the Giants did not run the ball well without Brandon in the backfield. I was thinking about this a lot and to me while watching the game I never had the thought pop into my head that the running game lagged. Now 25 carries for 89 yds is nothing to write home about but this is my perception of the game.

Let me start this by saying I want Jacobs back next year no matter what it takes. He brings an added value to the team that no other running back in the league has. Lets face it you can't teach size. Plus I noticed that after every time the Defense or Offense made a good play coming off the field Jacobs was there to great them with a smile and a high five, while number 17 sat there the entire game with his arms crossed. Who is the real leader there?

Ok so before everyone gets their panties in a bunch lets look under the hood of that car (running game w/out BJ) before we say it's broken. Just by looking at the numbers one would say we struggled 89yds on 25 carries not so good right? What about oppertunities.....Did you realize that the Giants started 5 series inside Arizonia's side of the field. 4 of them inside their own 40! Half of our seires our Offense started with a short field.

What you notice is that 8-13 plays that we ran in series where we punted were passes. The running game was a victem of circumstance. Yes they did struggle ypc I can't debate that but there wasn't too many oppertunities for that 40 yd scamper that we are so use to seeing. That 40 yd run really beefs up the ypc along with the total yds from scrimage. Aside from the numbers the running game really helped allow Eli throw for 240 3tds no Int's by keeping Pheonix off balance .

The Ravens game is a perfect example of my point. In that game Bradshaw had a run for 77yds, Jacobs had a run for 36yds, and Ward had one for 22. so on three runs the Giants had a total of 135yds out of 210 yds. It just didn't appear the running game was presented with the run options as we saw in the Ravens game. Just my thoughts.....

Rest of the East:

Eagles vs. Ravens - The Eagles are done move on... I completely missed this call I had way too much faith in the Birds to put points on the board. The Ravens came out and just punched the eagles in the mouth and took all the air out of this Bird. On a side note as I stated I would not watch this game I was subjected to do so, becasue Fox thought it was a good idea not to show any others in the 1pm slot. Don't get me started with Direct TV. How come you need a south west view? You can't get a satelite up in the North East I swear...

If you thought Eagle mgt was bad you need to check out the Eagle board this week. I caught a post that was saying the Eagles should trade their 3rd pick for Michael Bush.... Yes it's true. I normally don't post on the other boards, because its a waste of time but if you want some giggles go check out the thread. Just increidble

Cowboys vs. SanFran - I said the cowboys would win by 13 and they did. I was pretty sure the Cowboys D would let up points and they would take advantage of the SanFran D and they did. Next up Seattle yawn....

Redskins vs. Seattle: I pushed alright... -3 Redskins had a chance to make me a loser and they fumbled the ball so what. I figured Seattle would have a chance to win this game late and they did. I just didn't count on their QB throwing a pick with the first oppertunity he would get to drive them down the field. There has alway been comparison between Farve and Hasslebeck and that was no more evident than on Sunday.....

I know I haven't giving my predictions lately and it's been due to several things but I'm back on track for week 12. Let me first say I don't know why CBS changed the profile page; I personally don't like it. Not sure how everyone else feels about it I guess I just like the status qou. Speaking of status qou the Giants rushing for 200yds a game is begining to seem like the norm. What a showing last week by laying the wood to the Raven's run D. The Giants have now beat the two best teams from a division many were picking to the be the best in football prior to the season. This team is really starting to look scary. I've said it before but truefully as a complete unit Ofense, Defense, and special teams this may be the most complete Giant team I've seen.

Week 12 in Phoenix. The Giants seem to be playing measuring stick games every week. First Pitt, then the Eagles, next the Ravens, and finally the NFC west leading Cardinals. Not a measuring stick for themselves but the teams they play. The Cardinals have a devistating passing attack but not much of a run game. They also have a very fast defense but nothing to write home about. They play in the worst division in the league and their last two games have not been that impressive. They should have lost to the 49ers if not for some of the worst clock mgt ever displayed by M. Martz and played a less then steller game last week vs a Seattle team that is improving and who did get thier QB back but should have been no match for them. The thing to keep in mind is this the NFL and no one remembers the next year what a W looked like only that it was a W.

Ok decision time. The Giants are fav. by 3.5 going into Phoenix. The Giant's should soundly cover this spread with or with out B. Jacobs who will probably not play IMO. The Oline is too good for Phoenix's D-line, Ward & Bradshaw should combine for a nice day. Also Kurt Warner who is again having a faboulous year will be under pressure from the Giants D-fense all day and this should be cause for concern for Cardinal fans. When Warner has time he is excellent under pressure not so much. If you take anything away from the Jet game they beat the heck out of Warner in the first half expect nothing less from the Giants. Only difference is the Jets let up in the 2nd half where as the Giants will not. Do I expect a shutout from the Giants no I don't but the Cards have losses by the Jets, Washington, and Carolina this year. All teams who have good defenses and the Giants as a unit have a better one. If not for the Cleveland game this one may worry me. I believe that lose to the Browns may have been the best thing for the Giants. Cleveland played well that game you can't take anything away from them, however the Giants will no longer be suseptable to a no show. The Cleveland loss will be in the back of their head and I think you get an A+ showing from them this week.

Rest of the East

Eagles vs. Ravens: This should be the ugliest game of the year. What a barn burner last week by the Eagle huh? Reid and Dono both on their way out. I suspect Reid before Dono but lets face it Dono will be remember for three things when his career is over; Rush Limbaugh, throwing up in the superbowl, and not know that regular season games end in ties. Ouch! Well The current line has the Raven's -1 at home doesn't say much for them when the Eagles are coming off a tie in Cinny. Let's face it the Eagles D will shut down the Raven's O much like the Giants did and the Eagles should be able to do just enough to win this game. I'll probably pass on watching it since the over should be 16 but hey who knows right?

Cowboys vs. San Fran: Well one thing is for sure. It's the Cowboys will definatly have some hope going into the Giant game. They could be 8-5 or 9-4 depending on how the Pitt game turns out. They will be coming in hurting either way with their hopes finally crushed when they play the Giants for a second time. The should beat SanFran soundly lets face it. They are 10 point favs going into the game they win by 13 easy. Thats why I'm looking past this one and they get Seattle the following week. However, this is a tallented team with ZERO coaching and structure to it. Pitt will be a good matchup for them the only question is will their Defense be able to keep PItt from scoreing?

Redskins vs. Seattle: Washington is fav. by three in this one. I'm going to surprise some of you mabye with this one but I believe Seattle wins out right. They play their second game with Matt H. back and they are coming off a tough loss to the Cardinals. Washington doesn't have the same type of O that Pheonix does and they don't have a healthy CP. They have to travel cross country for this to a tough place to play and I don't believe they have the offensive power to pull it out. I think Washington will be realing after this one. I've been wrong before but not to many times.

Week 10 and the Cowboys and Redskins are on bye's. Two different train of thoughts for both teams this bye week even though both coming off prior week loses. The Skins are going into the bye with two weeks to think about how their offense was completely shut down by the Steelers. CP only rushing for 51 yds and JC throwing his first two int's of the season. Ouch. The Cowboys on the other hand are going into the bye thanking god that the three game strech is over. They got it handed to them in New Jersey but at least their probowl QB will be back. Will it be enough, did they dig to deep of a hole, can they get their Defense straightened out? All things will have to wait and see.

As for the Game of the Week! Giants @ the Eagles. This is a big week the for the Eagles in my mind. A lot of people are saying this is a measuring stick for the Giants but that's what they say every week, so I say save it. IMO this is a measuring stick for the Eagles. What I mean by that is I believe this is a game the Eagles can win they are certainly not over matched. So with that I believe this is more of a measuring stick for them at home then it would be for the Giants on the road. As I write this I feel like Hulk Hogan speaking to his Hulkamaniacs prior to his showdown with the ultimate warrior. He pretty much came out and said it would be alright if he lost so that millions of little boys wouldn't commit suicide after the match. The difference is Hulk knew he would lose the Giants certainly have a chance to win.

Ok keys to the game. Lets be honest no secret here it's all about getting after Brian Westbrook. I beleive that S. Spags will run some sort of nickle the entire game with the extra DB spying WB. If not that I would assume that Brian Keihl or Chase Blackburn will have the responsiblity of staying with him the entire game. This will be a big week for the Dline of the Giants. They are going to have to get pressure on McNabb a lot without much blitzing if the Giants want to take control of this game.

The current line is Eagles -3. I believe that most of you know by now I don't bet my own team. I would have to say this would be the toughest line I've seen all year. I don't think the Giants win this game. I'm not entirely sure why to be honest but my gut says they lose. The bigger problem I have with the line is I'm not entirely confident that the Eagles cover that number. So in my opinion I say take the points. My reason for this is I think the Eagles can win a close game but thats about it. If the Giants don't win outright, which is possible they can at least cover the points.

I think this game sets up two outcome for the Giants. One they win and if they do forget about it the division is over they will steam roll the Cowboys and Redskins on their way to a first round bye. If they lose they are still in excellent shape but will have a tougher task of getting back on track. I believe this, because we know every Redskin and Cowboy player will be watching this game and if the Giants lose if should give those players some semblance of hope. If the Giants come out and win all bets are off they would be 3-0 in the division. I can't really remember the last time I wasn't sure if I wanted the team I rooted for to win or lose. If they win I can completely see them running into the same buz saw the Pats did last year. If they lose I feel they would be more on track with their agenda such as it was last year. Time will tell but either way should be a very entertaining game for the NFC east.

What a week. I bet there won't be too many Redskin or Cowboy fans reading this week after bad showings but that was to be expected. A perfect 3 for 3 this week. So if your betting with me over the last 4 or 5 weeks I'm 10-12 not counting the G-men where I haven't missed this entire season unfortunatly I don't bet them.

Giants v. Cowboys - Giants -9 give the points should win 24-7. Defense too much for backup QB. The Dallas D will need to keep the Giants under 20 points they haven't scored more than 14 since Romo's out.

Well I said that the Cowboys were going to have to keep the Giants under 20, because they haven't scored more than 14 points without Romo and they couldn't do it. That's keep the Giants under 20 or score more than 14. As I suspected this D that the Giants runs out there was way way to much for the backup QB both of them to be exact. Not to rub it in much but lets be honest the refs blew the Justin Tuck call that saved the scoreing drive for the Cowboys. If not for that call I believe this game would have just been a laugher. On 3rd down Tuck with perfect technique blows up Bollinger and they throw the flag; just terrible.

I have to be frank and say I was never big on this Dallas D and since day one I've been saying they have a lot of holes to fill with players that are just avg. and they looked below avg this week. Eli had 3 turnovers and it still didn't matter. I can't remember a game that was won by 21 points where the winning team turned the ball over 3xs. The Dallas problems run much deeper then the QB problem and I think that will be apprant even when Romo gets back. After the RW trade I wrote a big piece on why it was the wrong move and there were other positions that needed to be addressed but hey who am I? Just some amature blogger right.

If the Giants can keep this thing rolling through next week it may be time to start talking best all around team I've seen them put out on the field. The offensive and defensive lines are just monsterous. The Defense as a whole is spectacular with LB play that know saw coming your's truly included and DB play that I did see coming that most did (remember the rankings preseason Bcrum). Then offensively this team is so deep at WR its not even funny. There is typically two WRs on the bench that teams would love to have as 2 or 3 options. Eli is Eli he's a gamer and will give you chance to win the game in most circumstances. The online is hands down the best I've ever seen and the 3 headed running backs are well they're awesome. It's good to be a Giant fan this year. What's really nice is the team is built for the long haul

Eagles v. Seahawks Eagles -6 take it definatlely. Backup QB in Seattle, last year for holmgrem, and Seattle has just looked plain terrible.

What can I say the Eagles got the W they needed nothing much more I can say. They played a team they were supposed to beat and they did. Kudos to them 3 w's in a row with a big test coming up. I must adimt I was impressed by Wallace's play this week. He didn't look half bad. Is it me or do the Eagles still need help at WR? It's almost funny at this point that every year we say the same thing. On a side note what happens when the great Brain Westbrook is done?

Washington v. Pitt - Pitt +1 or 2 depending on who you goto. Game of the week. Pitt will out last Washington and cover by 6 or 7. Washington will not be able to apply the pressure neccisary and CP and Campbell will both stumble this week. I know last week that I said I was big on both these players even calling for a possible MVP for CP but the NFL is all about matchups and Washington doesn't matchup well. I could be completely wrong on this and I'll eat crow if I am but I just don't see Pitt losing 3 stratight to the NFC East.

I'm a football guy plain and simple. I like baseball, basketball, playoff hockey, and pretty much all sports, but I'm starting to scare myself with how intune I am with the league this year. If the above didn't happen last night like I called than I don't know what you're looking for. The Pitt D held Portis to 13 for 51. It's almost funny there was this guy on the Redskin board (biggest troll you know him) telling me that CP would run for 120 because of the Redsking blocking scheme. Honestly this is what he was posting. He was trying to make the argument that the Redskins have some blocking scheme setup that Pitt wouldn't be ready for. Guys if there is one thing and only one thing you take from my postings it's the NFL is all about matchups so even teams who looked terrible the week before can look great the next week if the matchup is right.

A 3-4 defense is the perfect D for a west coast offense. The reason for this is the extra LB's to protect agianst the short passes. Plus the West Coast is all about reads and identifying what WR will have the quick opening. How can you possible do that when you don't know what LB is coming in on the blitz? Its very tough. Just for giggles I checked the Redskin board and the posts have already started on JC again. It's to comical. Be objective and you can see these things coming. JC has been excellent at protecting the ball. The reason for this is the offense is such that he can hit the short route for big yds. This is made very difficult agianst a 3-4.

wow. I'm not sure what happened but my original write up was deleted while submitting. SInce i don't have the patience to re wite I'll sumarize.

Giants v. Cowboys - Giants -9 give the points should win 24-7. Defense too much for backup QB. The Dallas D will need to keep the Giants under 20 points they haven't scored more than 14 since Romo's out.

Eagles v. Seahawks - Eagles -6 take it definatlely. Backup QB in Seattle, last year for holmgrem, and Seattle has just looked plain terrible.

Washington v. Pitt - Pitt +1 or 2 depending on who you goto. Game of the week. Pitt will out last Washington and cover by 6 or 7. Washington will not be able to apply the pressure neccisary and CP and Campbell will both stumble this week. I know last week that I said I was big on both these players even calling for a possible MVP for CP but the NFL is all about matchups and Washington doesn't matchup well. I could be completely wrong on this and I'll eat crow if I am but I just don't see Pitt losing 3 stratight to the NFC East.

Whew what a game huh! I started out last week talking about how this would be a respect game for the Giants. A lot of people talk about how they haven't played anyone yet. Well let me say that Pitt team is a good one and the Giants found a way to win. I've already began reading all the posts about how the Giants got lucky from the botched snap for a safety that tied the game. Did I miss something where there is a difference between 7 points or 5? Either way Pitt would need a touchdown correct; one they never got? Also the Giants actually recieved worse field postion after the safety because Pitt now punted from the 30 vs. their own goal line for the scoreing drive. I would also like to point out that once agian Eli came through when it counted. Not only did he score a TD when the Giants needed it but looking at 4th and 6 he threw a perfectly placed ball into the ageless Amani Toomer's hands. I stated during week 7's review that Eli's may not alway win pretty but he knows how to win. He looks most confident when things are chaotic and once agian the kid came through. Not that he played a bad game but when the chips were on the table he came up with a royal straight flush like he usually does.

Ok so my two keys to the game were Eli don't turn the ball over (0 int's) and the DB coverage needs to be better (4 int's). I think they both accomplished what I said would need to be done in order to win this game. Not to sound repetetive but Eli took care of the ball and didn't turn it over. Although the Giants had to kick 4 FG's I think there is something to be said of scoreing a total of 5xs. Second the DB's did blow one coverage that lead to a TD but all in all they played great. IMO the Giants were the much harder hitting team yesterday. Between Butler and Philips I thought they were going to hurt someone the way they were flying around the field. Also I would like to note that Webster and Ross's names were not mentioned yesterday and that is a good thing. To me that means they were locking down their men.

Ok so judgement time. I believe that Vegas mess this line up. I 100% believe that this line should have been Giants -4. I know many of you are going to hit me with the homer pick but I think the Giants win by 7.

I know this post from my week 8 preview was bold and I figured some would say a homer move but I did point out why I thought this. I said that the two D's that Pitt had faced in the Eagles and the Ravens put heavy pressure on Ben and the Giants would do the same. I believe the Giants knocked him down 15xs and sacked him 5! Also I pointed out that the Giants O-line may very well be one of the best in the league. If that wasn't proven yesterday I don't know what they need to do in order to do so. They allowed ZERO sacks agianst a terrific defense (honestly one of the best I've seen in a long time)!

Unfortunatly I don't bet the Giants other wise I would have laid the house on this one. I would like to close on this game by saying that the Pitt fans as a whole on the CBS board are very respectable and one of the best groups out there. There are always a few bad eggs but for the most part I have to say were a good debating group that made valid points.

I said that I wouldn't touch this game as a bettor, because who knows what Cowboy team you were going to get. I said gun to my head I take the points either way. I thought that Vegas should have had it Cowboys +3 but who am I and once agian they proved smarter about teams I admittably don't follow as close to detail as my own. However, If the Bucs had score a TD on the last drive they would have won by 3 and I would have been spot on so I wasn't to far off.

Well, the Cowboys came out and played an excellent Defensive game. Lets face it they played a very good team this week and won. Kudos for that. The Bucs had a chance at the end but couldn't come through. I think this was one of the first times in a long time that the Cowboy D actually stoped a team when they had to in order to salavage a game ( I don't want to hear about the Cinny game seriously). Any way good win they need Romo back soon! If they don't get him back before the week 11 prediction they could be in trouble. I'm not sure how much longer this team can survive without him. Lets call it as it is Romo is the heart and soul of this team and without him they are a shell of themseleves. It's almost funny that this guy went undrafted. Next up the G-Men ( good luck!)

Ok nice win for the Eagles this week to keep their hopes alive. I said give the points and cash the money. Well they won by 13 but couldn't this have been any scarier of a game? I have to say the Eagles have to do something about the QB situation if Donovan isn't going to break the pocket and run like he use to. This whole pocket passer thing is not suited for him. How many balls did he over throw, under throw, completely miss his target on? Seriously it was almost painful. At one point he over threw his target wide open with a ball 3 feet over his head. All Donovan did was laugh.

In the second half Dono finally started to move the pocket and run. When he did this he started picking up serious yds and making the LB's respect his run. With that the Eagles started to move the ball. I like the Eagles in this game for two reasons. 1 I figured their D would give the rookie QB fits and aside from two long scoreing TDs they did and 2: Brian Westbrook would be coming back. Let me say as a Giant fan BW is awesome. He had 200 yds and 2 tds this week. The guy is great and without him the Eagles are just ordinary. The Eagles did win by 13 although it may have just been 6 if not for a blown call but i'll take the cash however it's given.

Also I acutally was debating this game with a Cowboy fan friend of mine. He kept saying that Michael Turner is a beast and that Matt Ryan is not the avg rookie QB. Ryan is a real good player and may turnout to be a franchise player but I have a problem with the Turner assesment. If you look going into this game Turner had 3 of his 6 games with less then 60 yds. All three were games were agianst good D's. His games where he had 100 plus were agianst bad D's not avg bad. This week what did he have? 58 yds, draw your own conclusions but this guy still is not considered a top back in my book.

Another cash out on this game. I said the 7 point spread was a tricky one and man was it close. The skins won by 8 and that's all that matters when your betting.

Ok story of this game is Calvin Johnson is awesome! Just kidding he is good but Jason Campbell played another good game. He finally commited a turnover (a fumble not and INT) but in the end he lead his team to a W they needed and should have gotten. I have both JC and Eli in my fantasy league and decided to start JC at the last moment and I'm glad I did. JC had 328 passing yds and a TD. I mean lets face it the Lions are terrible but what a season the Clinton Portis is having huh. The guy has 944 yds at the midway point! He is just dominating this year. If he continues this can you say MVP?

Final thoughts-

I believe the NFC East took back recognition of the best division in football this week. Three of the four teams won agianst oppents with records of 500 or better. Two of the games came agianst NFC south teams, which is the only division where I thought there may be a challenge and the other came agianst Pitt, which some had as a top 3-5 team in the league depending on who you are talking to. IMO the 4 NFC East teams can beat anyone and that is something I don't think any other division can claim.

Week 8 is upon us and there is reason for excitement this week for big blue nation. Finally a game where we get to see what this team is made of right? Well this is good and bad IMO. First the good. As a Giant fan it's almost tireing hearing the endless blabber of how they haven't played anyone yet. The bad well if they win ( I believe they will explaination to come) does that take a little drive out of this team? I certainly hope not especially with the bulk of the division games to follow and IMO they are most important.

In regards to having not played anyone yet gets me thinking. What team out there would be considered someone? This year so far the usually supsects have fallen out of the Elite (Colts, Chargers, Pats) and teams who were supposed to be Elite (GB, NO, Jags) are not. This really started to dawn on me when I took a closer look at who Pitt has played. Lets look at some of the Division Leaders. The Giants well we can't play ourselevs that would be silly. The Bears & Packers are tied at 4-3 but are they considered Elite? Carolina & Tampa Bay are both 5-2 I guess we would consider these two top teams however Carolina got smoked by TB and they lost to the Vikings (do we just disregard and move on?) TB lost to the Saints and Denver. Are they considered good losses Denver held them to 13 points with one of the worst D's out there and the Saints are a far cry from what we expected them to be. How bout Arizonia they're 5-2 but are they now considered Elite and a quality win? If the Cowboys had beat them two weeks ago would we all be jumping back on the Cowboy banwagon? The four leaders from the AFC are Buffalo, Titans, Pitt (we play this week) and Denver ( see above). My point is there aren't that many teams out there this year that you say Oh thats a good win.

Lets move on to my keys to the game. I have two keys this week. One Eli needs to protect the ball. No brainer I know but let me explain. Sometimes there are good sacks (at least relatively). Don't try and force everything into Plax. Second is our DB coverage. They need to tune it up specifically Aaron Ross. Last week he was moved into the nickel package for Kevin Dockery. I'm anxious to see if that will be the case this week.

Two parts of this team I didn't indicate as keys, because they have become constants and I fully expect them to continue their good play. That's the O-line and the D-line. Contrary to what many have said this D-line is as good as ever. The main reason for this is the play at DT. Fred Robins is a beast and he needs to keep this up. As for the O-line they were completely over looked coming into the season and this has continued.

Ok so judgement time. I believe that Vegas mess this line up. I 100% believe that this line should have been Giants -4. I know many of you are going to hit me with the homer pick but I think the Giants win by 7. First and foremost I believe you will see a repeat of the Eagles game. Big Ben has a taken a league leading 18 sacks and the bulk came agianst the Ravens and Eagles. Quite honestly these are the only two D's they have seen that are any good. If you think for second that the Giants can't dial it up like these two did your kidding yourself. Secondly the Giants O-line is better than good and if Eli gets any time that shell of DB staff that Pitt will be running out there is in trouble. We all know and it's no seceret that Pitt is going to try and take the run away so they are going to expose someone.

Well no matter how this game winds up I believe that we are in for a good one and to be honest last week was a little of a let down for me so I'm excited about this one. It should be a close game going into the fourth but agian I think it will be to little to late for Pitt. Take the points and watch yourself cover by 10.

Rest of the East

I'm going to keep this short because the Giant breakdown was long and really Eagles and Redskins are not that interesting this week. Eagles should roll the rookie QB. They get WB back and there at home fav by 9 give the points. Washington on the road fav by 7. Tricky one but I would give the points agian. If JC can continue to protect the ball they should have no problem. Just keep and eye on CP's status.

As for Dallas vs. TB, Dallas is fav by 2. I thought this would have been TB fav by 3 but I guess Vegas isn't giving up yet. This will be a tough week for Dallas. TB is a good team with a good D. They need to protect Brad Johnson and if they don't they are in for another long day. I wouldn't touch this game, because quite honestly who knows with Dallas but gun to my head I'm taking the points. If TB had been fav by three I probably would have taken the points as well (never like going up agianst a home dog). Anyway this will be the game I watch at 1pm.

Good win for the Giants this week. They win the games they are supposed to. This is what will seperate them from a lot of the teams come the end of the season IMO. To many teams are losing games they have no business losing. This will certainly come back to bite them in the end. So I didn't think the Giants would cover and they did thanks to a late safety. Good thing I don't bet the team I root for.

Some good things that came out of this game. Defense played exceptional creating turnovers galour. I did say that O'Sullivan was in a rough strech and he continued his ways. I also pointed out the West Coast problem playin in the East at 1 oclock and that continued. Infact I think 3 teams lost coming from the west this week including seattle's night game.

Let me start by saying that the offense has not looked good of late and needs to really get this thing going. Just a prelude into my week 8 update if the Giants want to win at Pitt they need to start clicking. With that said I believe that what you see from Eli is what he is. Troy Aikman called him a gamer and I agree. What he meant was he isn't going to always look pretty in his wins but he'll win a lot. It appears that he is most at ease when things are chaotic IE: 1:52 left in the superbowl down by 4. He Eli knows how to win games and thats what you have to love most about him. You may want to let him fall to 7th rd or later in fantasy but from a pure football perspective thats all you can ask for.

Continueing on the concern remarks I have to say Aaron Ross needs to figure somethings out. Its very odd I must admit since he seems to get tangled up a lot in coverage something you didn't see often in college or last year. Lets just hope it's a hiccup. On a positive note Chase Blackburn looked great. He even recorded a sack. Nice leadership from him last week. I think AP will be back next week though so I will be short lived. We'll need him to continue his high level of play though just in case.

First let me pat my own back and say I called this one said take the points. The Skins are lucky that Romeo has no idea how to coach in the forth quarter. Did he really go for it on fourth down? Two weeks ago he kicked a field goal down 12...Whats 8+3? Any way the Skins still barely pulled it out inspite of Romeo. In reference to my preview I said that Campbell looked a lot like David Garrard and man is that true. The guy doesn't make mistakes and that is a plus for this team for sure. I also said this was a defining game for these two teams. The Redskins showed they can still win after a bad loss and next up Detriot (good for them). Cleveland well time for a new coach and QB.

Woo did I ever mis on this team or what and you know what it's my own fault. I wrote out this big long piece why the Roy WIlliams trade didn't make sense right now, because of the defensive issues and still thought they could cover without TR. Well you know what that D is worse then I thought. Also I was never big on the Oline. I thought they good not great. But this is two weeks in a row they have been just run through. I was chastised (spelling?) prior to the season for saying they were ok not great by a Dallas fan (I pm'd you and you never return a response) because of how many probowlers they had last year. To all Giants, Skins, and Eagle fans if you ever get this arguement always remember that the fans vote for these players. Like it or not the Cowboys are the Yankees of football. They have more fans then any other team. This doesn't mean they are the best team they just have a good PR strategy. Infact little history lesson. We all know the phrase "America's Team" we'll Bob Ryan, the Vice President and editor-in-chief of NFL Films, coined this for the Cowboys in 1979 started that ,because of their colors and the Cowboys really pushed it late 70's early 80's. One of my friends actually fell for it in the 80's I remember he was like I want to root for America's team. Well the moral of the story is 80% of their fans outside of Texas were dupped into rooting for them in a marketing scheme. That number includes second generations whose fathers fell for it.

Any way this team has tons of problems and it starts with thier Defense and ends with injuries. Romo will be able to hide the Oline problem when he gets back, because of his mobilitiy but this coach needs to get this thing turned around. And one side note Jason Garret isn't the answer. With the team positioned the way it is currently a kid his age has no chance.